Some Christians Really Believe That You’re Depressed Because of Your Unrepentant Sin

It’s amazing what some people believe.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

It was a Saturday afternoon and I was having a discussion with an acquaintance who didn’t know much about autism and wanted to know more. Being an autism self-advocate, I was happy to share the details of what it is to be autistic and how others, like this person, can accept and include us in their circle of friends and in society as a whole.

This was going well until we got to the part about other things that go along with autism, such as, in my case, severe social anxiety and depression. It was at this point that the entire conversation ground to a halt and took a complete 180 from where we had been.

“You’re suffering from depression because you’ve sinned and need to ask forgiveness and repentance from that sin,” they told me.

Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I explained that, like everyone in the world, including my acquaintance, I have sinned, but that sin was not the cause of depression.

“You might feel depression and guilt because of something you’ve done,” I explained. “But that’s not everyone. In fact, that’s not most people.”

Depression can have many causes. In the past few days, I lost a friend with cerebral palsy who drowned in a car during a flash flood. Her family and friends are depressed, but it’s not due to sin. It’s due to a profound loss in their lives.

My depression is chemically based and, again, goes hand-in-hand with my autism. Everyone (with or without autism) who gets depressed is not depressed because they’ve sinned.

Can you pray that God will help you with the symptoms of your depression? Absolutely. Should you pray that He forgives you and rids you of your sin-based depression? Probably not.

To be clear, I was raised in church, attended Christian school from fifth grade through high school graduation. Though I rarely attend church services now, I’ve generally felt good about myself and God. So, I’m not coming at this from an anti-God position.

This is just an example of the many Christians who believe that everything in one’s life is caused by sin and by…